IN a surprising update to Marvel Studios’ upcoming Deadpool 3, Jennifer Garner is set to reprise her role as the sai-wielding assassin Elektra, a character that she last played almost 20 years ago in 2005’s Elektra.
A critical and commercial flop, Elektra was a spin-off to 2003’s Daredevil, which also saw Ben Affleck in his first superhero role as he starred as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, the romantic interest of Garner’s Elektra.
In 2021, Garner told the Hollywood Reporter that she wished both of those films had been produced by Kevin Feige as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“It’s such a shame, honestly, because once Kevin took over, everything there was elevated: the writing, the direction, the comedy inside of the stories they were telling,” she said.
“And I did not have that experience.”
Created by the legendary comic book writer Frank Miller, Elektra has been an antihero for most of her presence in the comic books, displaying heroic values but also villainous violence and motivations.
In that sense, the character will fit snugly with Jackman’s Wolverine and Reynolds’ Deadpool in Deadpool 3, which will be Marvel Studios first R-rated film.
Shawn Levy, who just directed Reynolds and Garner in The Adam Project, is helming the film from a script by franchise mainstays Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
The rest of the cast will comprise Morena Baccarin, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, and Leslie Uggams, who are returning from the previous two Deadpool films, which were made by 20th Century Fox prior to Disney’s acquisition of the studio.
Matthew Macfadyen from HBO’s Succession has also joined the cast, with Reynolds’ hinting the actor’s role will be substantial as Macfadyen will be on set “each and every day”.
With Garner and Jackman on board reprising their old roles, Deadpool 3 is shaping up to be a multiverse film consisting of actors from bygone superhero films, and it’s unclear how many more will be returning.
